


The Day After Our Lives Ended

by madqueenmadi



Category: 2012 (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Gen, my life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-14
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-09 22:32:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/459216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madqueenmadi/pseuds/madqueenmadi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 12-22-12. The day after the world ended. 5 friends are the only ones left alive...or so they thought. A story of survival, friendship, and true love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So, this honestly isn't a part of any particular fandom, it is simply a multi-chapter fic I decided to write about my friends and I surviving the apocalypse, enjoy!

Screaming. That's what I remember before everything went black. Crazy, scary, hectic. There are just not enough words to describe how it was.

I'll start from the beginning, from when I first sat up in my bed and stretched. It was 12-21-12, first day of Christmas break, and the day all life on planet Earth would end. I had never believed in this legend, it was all nonsense to me. The songs, the movies, the sayings were meaningless. But, oh was I wrong.

My friends and I had planned an early Christmas party, where we were all going to spend the weekend at Kelsy's, since her family was out of town, and stay up, watch 2012 and talk about school. We never did get to watch that movie though. Before we all got settled in the Earth exploded, literally. The house started shaking violently, everything flew off the walls. Plates were shattering on the kitchen floor, books were landing grotesquely on the ground, and picture frames were smashed everywhere. I grabbed onto someone's hoodie and dashed out the open door, looking behind me once or twice to make sure I wasn't imagining this. I had no idea of what to do next, well I didn't need one. At that moment at 7 foot tree came crashing down on my friends and I.

Right before it hit us I got a good glance of what was happening. I screamed, and the last thing I remember was a bone-crushing feeling in my ribs and the picture of our world crashing down. Then finally the blackness overtook me and I lost control of my hold on reality.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm dead; I thought to myself.

I was just hit by a tree, I can't be alive. And then right at that second I wondered, where are my friends? Are they alright? They were hit just as hard…I think.

Maybe I should just move a little, so I slowly started to use all my strength to pull my body upward. Suddenly a sharp pain shot across my upper torso. OUCH, I screamed in my head. I quickly lay my body back down on the cool ground. I slowly started to slide my eyes open, when I got the first eye exposed I shut it as fast I could. The light was blinding, how long had I been unconscious? I swiftly lifted my eyelids open. I was stunned for a few seconds, but as soon as I kept hold of my sight I looked from left to right.

What I was seeing was horrifying. There were no sounds, except for the slow steady breathing of my friends and I. Everything was in ruins. Nothing was left standing; none of the buildings you could see along the horizon from Kelsy's house were there. Where was everything, what happened, and where were we? Bodies were laying strewn across the streets in grotesque ways, hanging from trees with limbs dangling by tendons; some were even missing their arms or legs. I nearly barfed.

Suddenly I heard a gasp to the right of me, I turned my head to see Sydnei worriedly sitting up and turning her head back and forth. When she was finished she slowly rested her eyes on me. That horrific look that I was most likely wearing was on her face. She opened her mouth slowly.

"Where are we?" she asked sounding dehydrated, "and what on EARTH just happened?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking." I croaked. I sounded horrible too. She eyed me scrutinizing my body. Her eyes bulged open.

"What happened to you?" she stuttered.

"Um," I paused, "If I'm certain, I was hit by a tree."

I pointed to the log sitting a few feet behind us.

"Are you alright?" she asked, leaning in closer.

I tried to sit up a bit more.

"Nope, not one bit. I think a few of my ribs are broken."

"Crap, hey, don't move, okay? I'm going to call an ambulance," Sydnei grabbed her phone out of her back pocket of her jeans and started dialing 9-1-1.

"Yeah, Syd, don't think that's going to work," I said as she put the phone up to her ear.

"Why?" she looked over at me, then held up her hand, "Woah, wait, aren't they supposed to pick up on the first ring?"

"Yep, but there's no one there to pick up. They're all dead, well, as far as I know," I answered, still lying on the ground with my hands folded on my stomach.

"Wait, hold up," she held up her hand and ended the call, "What happened?"

"The end of the world," I said quietly.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kenna, wake up!" Sydnei screamed in McKenna's face, slightly shaking her, "McKenna Rae Maltby, open your eyes already! Please!"

Kenna coughed.

"Thank god, are you okay, Kenna?" I asked, watching intently.

"What? Where am I?" McKenna squawked, opening her eyes.

"Long story, ouch." I grimaced. Breathing is starting to hurt too.

"You okay?" McKenna asked, stepping up and walking over to me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just took too big a breath. Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm good, but what's wrong with you? Are you hurt?" she said, doing a once over of my condition before kneeling beside me.

"Most of my ribs are broken, I just need to relax." I answered.

"How the heck did you do that? Do you want me to call 911?" she looked around for her cell phone, but came up empty. "Where's my phone?"

I looked at Sydnei, she shrugged her shoulders.

"Thanks, Syd, you're lots of help," I said, sarcastically.

"Anytime, I'm going to go check on Kels and Jack, you handle Kenna," she said, walking over to Kelsy.

"What are you guys talking about? What's wrong with them?" Kenna asked, looking over to our two friends lying on the ground a few feet away.

"Kenna let me explain. Everyone, as far as we know, is dead. We're going to have to survive on our own from here on out, unless we find someone else," I watched as she slowly took it in, and then continued, "I don't know how it happened, but it seems that all that crap about 2012 was true."

McKenna took a couple seconds to digest this. "Wait, what? So the world just, ended? Just like that?" she knit her eyebrows together trying to remember. "That's impossible. What really happened? And why aren't Jackie and Kelsy awake?" she glanced at their bodies lying silently next to each other, "Are they dead?" she started to get up, but I grabbed her arm before she could go anywhere.

"Sit down," I said, "They're not dead, just calm down."

She did what I said with a puzzled look on her pale face, the corners of her lips pulling down in a frown. I heard her take a deep breath.

"Okay, so, why are we outside? And how did you get hurt?" she continued asking, sitting down.

"Tree," I sighed, as I pointed to the oak sitting behind me.

"Oh my god, that could have killed you! We need to get you inside and make sure nothing else is broken, because if what you've said about this," she said gesturing to the destruction around us, "Then we really are on our own, and we'll have to deal with this by ourselves, I guess."

I heard Kelsy gasp awake and I looked over to see if she was alright.

"Hey, anything hurt?" I called over there, watching as Syd moved onto Jackie.

"Bruises, lots of them," she looked down at her arms and legs.

She looked around for a second before she screamed.

"Holy crap, did 2012 just happen?" Kelsy jumped up and started running around, looking at everything in a panic, "Oh my god, oh my god, are our parents dead? Everyone we've known is dead. This is not happening."

"Kels, it is, now calm down please," Kenna said, softly.

A sharp pain ran through my midriff causing me to yelp.

"What's wrong?" Kelsy nearly yelled, running over to my side, opposite McKenna.

I sighed. Explaining this was starting to get on my nerves.

"Tree hit me, broken ribs. I'll be fine, I hope, just need rest, and probably somewhere soft to lay instead of this gravel," I scoffed.

"Holy…" Kelsy trailed off, "Everything will be alright, my love, I promise."

"Thanks, is Jackie awake yet?" I asked grabbing McKenna and Kelsy's hands. So far, they were the only things keeping me from having a panic attack.

"Jackie's awake," Sydnei called, helping Jackie sit up.

"You okay?" we all said in unison.

"Of course, pain is too mainstream for me," she laughed, grabbing onto Sydnei's hand and hoisting herself up. She brushed her jeans off and looked around. A look of shock crossed her face, "Fuck, did what I think happen, just happen?"

"Pretty much, yeah," I responded.

She looked over at me, saw that I was lying on the street, holding Kenna and Kels's hands, and I watched as her smirk slowly faded.

"Madre, what happened? Are you okay?" she dashed over to my side.

I looked at McKenna, and she got what I was asking her to do.

"When the world ended," she chuckled, "How weird does that sound, "the world ended" I never thought I'd be saying that," she repeated almost to herself, "Anyways, when we all ran outside, she got hit by a tree and it broke a few of her ribs. Plus, she's in a lot of pain."

"Okay, um, we need to find someplace soft she can lay down, for now at least, until we find some stable house to stay in until she heals," Jackie got up from her crouch and looked up and down the street. She pointed to the left, "There looks to be fairly well looking house up the street a ways. A couple of us should check it out."

"I'll take Jack and go look, you guys just stay with Madi and make sure she doesn't pass out from the pain or anything," Sydnei said and grabbed Jackie's hand.

"Guys, there's no need to coddle me, I'll be alright, I just want to make sure you all are alright as well, if anything hurts, let me know. I know I can't do much, but I can give advice," I said shrugging lightly.

"God, honestly, Madi. You're the one who has broken bones, and not an arm or a leg, ribs!" Kelsy said throwing her hands in the air.

"I agree, even if that's hard to believe" Sydnei answered, smiling slightly while still holding onto Jackie's hand, "If any of us are going to make it, you need to heal up first, we can't do anything with you being hurt. You're just holding us back."

We all laughed and I cringed as another shot of pain ran through my body.

"Thanks, Syd," I said, smiling.

"Of course," she answered back with a grin, "And probably not the best idea to laugh either."

"I'll try not to, but being around you guys, it's kinda hard not to laugh," I responded, "Now you two be safe, okay? We have no idea what's out there."

"I'll always protect my wife," Jackie said, pulling Sydnei into a signature Jackie hug, one where she grabs your head with a bone crushing grasp of her arms.

"We know," I answered, "Now, hurry back!" I called as we watched them retreat down the street.


	4. Chapter 4

Sydnei and Jackie returned in a matter of minutes with good news.

"The house seems in good shape," Sydnei said, coming up to us and sitting on the ground.

"I also checked to see if they had any wifi," Jackie included, sitting down next to Syd, "And they do, at least for now anyways, until all the power generators shut down. We need the internet to find out how to take care of broken ribs, because I don't think any of us do."

"Yeah, no," answered Kenna.

"Didn't think so," Jackie chuckled.

"Well, how do we expect to move Madi?" Sydnei asked.

"Good question," Kelsy said.

"We can carry her, very gently, the house isn't that far away," Jackie suggested.

"Okay," I answered, "Just be really careful okay guys?"

"We will, love," Kelsy responded, "I'll get her head, Kenna you get her legs, and Syd and Jackie, you guys can grab her arms."

Everyone got to their positions, and braced themselves to lift.

"Everything okay?" McKenna asked, adjusting her arm.

"I'm good, as long as you guys don't drop me," I smiled.

"Okay, then on the count of three we lift her and start walking as fast as we can without hurting her," Kenna said, looking into everyone's faces to see their nods of agreement, "One, two, three!"

They all lifted and began fast-walking in the direction of the now abandoned house. Random bursts of pain occasionally made its way across my chest, and I grimaced with each one, but toughed it out.

"My goodness, Madi, you're heavy!" Sydnei said, laughing and readjusting her hold on my arm.

"Yep, couldn't make it too easy on y'all, now could I?" I shook my head carefully, getting a scolding from Kelsy to stop moving my head before she dropped me.

After a few minutes we were almost there.

"This is probably the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me in my short 15 years of living," I said incredulously.

"Tell me about it," Jackie chuckled, "This is weirder than the dark side of Tumblr!"

"You do know that everyone on Tumblr is probably dead right now," Sydnei said, raining on Jackie's parade.

No one responded to her comment, but remained silent until we came to the doorstep of the house.

"No one was in there when the world came crashing down, so no dead bodies, and there's only a few knickknacks on the floor," Jackie said, kicking the slightly ajar door open, "There's a bedroom to the left as soon as you walk inside, we can set her in there."

Everyone moved inside and gently set me down on the floral print comforter.

I grimaced again, slightly.

"Thanks you guys," I said.

"No problem," Jackie said, "Now I'm going to go hack into their laptop and look up how to treat broken ribs."

She headed out of the bedroom.

"I'm going to go see if they have a first aid kit somewhere, if we're lucky, then I can see what I can do until Jack comes back," Kenna patted my hand and walked into the master bathroom to the right of the bed.

"I'll stay here and comfort, Madi," Kelsy smiled, grabbing my hand again and sitting next to me on the bed.

"Then I'll go raid their pantries to find us some food," Sydnei added, leaving the room as well.

Kelsy and I sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds out our friends moving among the house.

I looked over at Kelsy watching her as she stared out the window. I squeezed her hand gently and she looked over at me with a smile.

"I can't believe this is happening right now," I whispered.

"I can't either," she responded, "This was supposed to be a fun weekend. It was the first time my parents let me have friends over while they were away," she shook her head, "Now they're dead."

"It hasn't really hit me yet," I said softly, "The realization that my family is dead. The realization that the whole human population is dead. I know that when it does happen, it won't be a pretty sight."

"I know," she kicked off her shoes and lay down next to me still clutching my hand like it was the only thing keeping her at bay. At least it was for me, I can only imagine it was the same for her.

I looked over and saw tears streaming down her face.

"Shh, Kels, it'll be alright," I soothed her, lying my head on her shoulder.

She began sobbing louder now into my hair, and I gripped her hand tighter and I silently began to cry as well.

Our parents are dead. No 15 or 16 year old should have to deal with this kind of thing. It wasn't like they all died in a car accident, no, they died because of some stupid Mayan calendar. They're probably lying somewhere, in a pool of blood.

My thoughts made me cry even more, and Kelsy and I lie on the bed, our sobs growing louder and louder.

McKenna was the first to hear us, and came running in to see what the matter was.

She seemed to understand why we were crying and laid down on my other side, grabbing my hand and resting her head on my shoulder, sobs shaking her whole body as she began to cry with us.

Of course, Jackie and Sydnei came in to see us three crying on the bed.

They as well knew the reason to our cries and sat at the end of the bed.

Sydnei and Jackie weren't the emotional type. You rarely ever got a glimpse of them crying, but they joined in on the hysterics, as realization hit them as hard as it had hit us. The realization that everyone on planet Earth was dead, and that we were alone. For the rest of our lives.


	5. Chapter 5

I stretched slowly and rubbed my eyes.

Where am I?, I thought to myself as I opened my eyes to see a completely different house than what I was used to.

I looked down and saw that I was lying on an old, blue couch. The question was why the hell was I in someone else's house, and on their couch?

I sighed and swung my legs around, but was crippled by the horrible pain in my head.

"Ugh," I groaned and gripped my head between my hands.

"Hey, guys, did we bring anymore Excedrin?" I asked, assuming that I had forgotten about us stopping for the night.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder and set a couple of pills and a glass of water in my hands.

"Thanks," I mumbled, throwing the pills back and gulping down the water.

I lay back down on the couch, resting my head on the pillow and massaging my temples.

"So, where are we anyways? I was positive it wouldn't even take us a day to get to my house," I said, opening my eyes again and looking around.

When no one replied, I started to get nervous.

"Guys? Where are you?" I asked, looking around the room, "If this is some kind of joke, cut it out, I'm not in the mood right now. I feel like someone punched me in the head."

That's when I caught of glimpse of someone standing in the corner of the fairly large room. I whipped my head around, despite the pain and gasped. Standing there was a boy, dressed in a pair of dirt stained jeans and an old AC/DC shirt.

I gasped and jumped off the couch. I was almost towards the door, but before I could reach it, the boy was standing in front of me. He grabbed my shoulders and I screamed as loud as I could ignoring the throbbing pain in my head.

"LET ME GO!" I yelled, trying to push him off me.

"Hey, hey, stop, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you!" he said, gently shaking me.

"Just leave me alone, please, just let me go," I said, not realizing that I had started to cry.

"Shh, don't cry, hey," he wiped a tear from my cheek, but I jerked away from his touch.

"I don't even know who you are," I pleaded with him.

"I'm Kyle Stark, I'm 15, and I survived the apocalypse, now will you please sit down so we can talk?" Kyle said, gently pushing me back in the direction of the couch.

"Stop touching me, I can walk by myself you know," I said, shoving him away from me and moving to sit on the couch with my arms folded. I wiped a few stray tears from my cheeks and sniffled.

I was still shaking, but I had found the courage to try and keep a straight, serious face. Who knows who this guy really is? He could be some serial killer for all I know. I just have to stay strong, I thought to myself.

"Sorry," he said, walking over and sitting across from me in an armchair which was the same ugly, blue color as the couch.

We sat in silence for a few seconds, staring at each other until I spoke up.

"If you're not going to hurt me, why won't you let me go?" I asked, glaring at him.

"Because, I want to get to know you. And because I've been watching you and your friends for the past few weeks."

When he saw the look of disgust on my face he quickly started shaking his head.

"Oh, no, no, not in that kind of way. I'm not some creeper, promise! I just mean, I was watching you guys because you're the first people I've seen since the world, well, you know, ended. And I was curious. I thought I had been the only one to survive, but when I saw you guys, I got excited."

"Okay, well, then why didn't you just come up to our door and say something, like, I don't know, hi?" I asked, "And, hey, how the hell did I get here anyway?"

"About that," Kyle looked down at his folded hands in his lap and chuckled, choosing to answer the latter first, "I didn't want to freak you all out, so I kind of kidnapped you."

"You WHAT?" I screamed, "How is that better than just introducing yourself?"

"I'm so sorry, I really am. It's just, I," he gave a small, sad smile, "I don't know, honestly, there isn't a good excuse for what I did. I just hope you can forgive me and we can start anew. Please, I'd really like it if we could all be friends."

My face was pure shock as I stared at Kyle. Who does he think he is? Does he think he can just kidnap me and apologize and everything will be alright?

"You know, no, I don't think I can forgive you. And we most certainly cannot be friends. Not tomorrow, or in a month, or in a million years. Not ever, you hear me?" I said, starting to raise my voice as I stood up from the couch and began walking to the door.

"Wait, don't leave, please. I don't know who you are, but from the moment I laid eyes on you I was in love," Kyle said, getting up from his chair and heading towards me.

I stopped with my hand on the doorknob. In love? With me? Is that even possible?

"Uh, um, what?" I asked, looking at the ground.

"I think I'm in love with you. That's why I didn't just walk up to the door and say hi. What was I supposed to say? A line from Call Me Maybe?"

I couldn't hold back a smile, but I lost it as quickly as it came.

"That'd be better than taking me against my will, yeah," I said, softly.

I heard him let out a small laugh, and decided to turn around and face him.

"I can't quite get a handle on this," I said, motioning as if to grab one, "You took one look at me and fell in love? Doesn't that kind of thing only happen in fairy tales?"

"That's what I always thought," he replied, taking a few steps towards me.

I backed away, so my back was against the door, but he continued to move forward until we were merely inches apart.

My breath was coming out in silent, staccato gasps. If he came any closer he could kiss me. A part of me kind of wanted him to; the part that believed in love at first sight and all that sappy romance novel crap. The other part was deducing a way to make a quick escape; I had my hand on the knob ready to turn and push the door open, but not yet. I still didn't know what he was going to do, and I was curious to find out.

Slowly, he brought his hand up to caress my cheek and my breath caught in my throat.

"You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life," Kyle said, so quietly that it was barely a whisper.

"You don't even know me, I could be a psycho who collects dead mice or something," I said just as quiet.

He smiled and stroked my cheek with his thumb.

"I could care less."

And that's when he closed the space between us and kissed me.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up to the sound of scuffling feet and a wet washcloth being placed on my forehead.

I opened my eyes slightly to see it was almost morning; not too dark, but not overly light either. I could just make out McKenna above me. She was wiping the washcloth across my forehead and she smiled when she saw me looking at her.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. You were just running a fever, so I decided to cool you off a bit," she took her hand away to grab a small bottle from the side table, "Can you take a couple of aspirin for me? We need to get this fever down before it escalates anymore."

She handed me a couple of orange pills and a bottle of water and I swallowed them quickly.

"Thanks, Kenna," I said smiling, "Where are the others?"

"Still sleeping, I decided to stay with you just to watch how you were doing."

"What did I say about coddling me?" I shook my head, still smiling, "You know you didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I wanted to. I mean, you're my friend, what was I supposed to do, sit and watch as you slowly grew more pained? Yeah, don't think so," Kenna grinned widely.

"Well, thank you, now go get some rest, please, I'll be fine," I said, shoving her off the bed with my left hand.

"Alright, alright, I'm going!" she put her hands up in mock surrender, "But if you need me, I'll be in the living room with the others."

I watched as she walked out of the room and sighed.

I stretched and yawned and when I looked down, I realized I had tape across my ribs.

"Huh," I scoffed.

They must have found out how to patch me up.

"I see you found our beautiful work on your stomach," Jackie said, startling me as she walked into the bedroom.

"Yeah, is this really how you're supposed to do it? I feel like a mummy," I laughed softly.

"Yuuuup. I know it's weird, but they said that if you wrap the tape around the entire body you can restrict breathing, which is not good," she sat down on the end of the bed and patted my foot, "Oh, and you need to cough, like, a lot."

"What?" I asked, fear trickling down my spine, "But, but, that's going to hurt, even breathing is hurting me right now."

"I know, I know, and I'm really sorry, but they said that you need to cough and breathe heavily or pneumonia could set in and we just don't have the medicine to treat something like that," Jackie smiled sadly, "But on the bright side, you get to eat a bunch of ice cream and milk and a lot of dairy products for the next 6 weeks."

"Gee, that sounds like fun," I said sarcastically, but regretted it instantly, "Sorry, I'm just in a really bad mood, and I can guess you are too, and me being mean isn't helping anything, so I'm just going to shut up and do what I need to do to get better."

I even threw in a loud cough, which made my eyes tear up from the pain.

"No, no, Madi, I'm not the invalid here, you are and we're going to treat you so we can get moving and see what's going on," Jackie said, rubbing my leg, "Now, try and rest up and we'll bring you some breakfast in a few hours."

"Oh god, this I can't wait to taste," I tried to hold back a laugh, but seeing Jackie nod in agreement made me burst out in laughter, even if it hurt like hell.

"See, you'll be as good as new sooner rather than later, now sleep!" she said jumping off the bed and wiggling her finger at me playfully, "Don't make me bring Sydnei in here."

I made a face of mock fear and watched as she walked out and shut the door.

After a few minutes I heard everyone begin to wake up, and decided that Jackie was probably right, and slowly fell back asleep.

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bacy!" Kelsy sang as she skipped into the room, holding a tray of food.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes.

"Hey sleepy head, how are you feeling?" she asked setting down the tray on the side table and sitting down next to me.

"Eh, little better, I guess. It's going to take a while with a lot more medication before I start feeling myself again," I coughed.

"I know, god, I'm really sorry about all this," she gestured towards my belly, "I hope this breakfast will make you feel somewhat better."

Kelsy propped me up on another pillow so I was sitting upright and put the tray on my lap.

"Do you need help? I can feed you if you want," she asked with all seriousness as she grabbed the piece of toast bringing it up to my mouth.

"Dear lord, Kels, I'm fine!" I laughed as I grabbed the toast from her hand and shoved it in my mouth, "See, I can eat on my own!"

Crumbs dropped down my chest and Kelsy and I broke into laughter and I tried to swallow the bite of toast I had taken without choking.

"Okay, okay, I see you can be a big girl and do it all by yourself," she smiled, getting up and walking out the door still chuckling to herself.

I looked down at my plate and saw what looked to be eggs and a glass of milk.

Not too bad, I thought to myself as I began to eat, literally shoving my face full of food. It has been days since I had eaten something, which probably wasn't good for the healing process.

As I was eating, Sydnei walked in and saw all the food that was inevitably all over my face and clothes.

I smiled crookedly, and she shook her head, turned around and walked out the door bursting with laughter.

~5 weeks later~

"God, I am so fucking sick of this bed, I just want to get up and actually do something other than pee!" I screamed slamming my fists onto the mattress.

"1 more week, and you'll be just fine, I can tell," Kenna said as she finished her weekly checkup.

I groaned.

"I know, but Kenna, I feel so useless. You guys have been doing everything, and here I am, the loser with the broken ribs who needs to be taken care of."

"1 more week," she repeated, smiling softly and walking out the door.

~1 month later~

"Okay, so I think we should find another house," I announced, walking over to the front of the living room where everyone was sitting and reading.

It had been 5 weeks since my ribs healed and I was feeling a lot better. There was still the occasional feeling of uncomfort, but there was nothing we could do about it, so I didn't complain.

"Great, where were you planning on going?" Sydnei said, looking up from some paranormal romance she had found in one of the rooms.

"I don't know, anywhere but here. This place is just giving me too many bad memories right now. I need to get out," I replied, moving to sit on one of the empty chairs, "Any suggestions?"

"Your house," Kelsy said, "We can see if it's still standing. That'll take us far away from here."

"Yeah, I agree with Kels," Kenna said, putting down her novel, "I need to get as far away from this town as I can."

"Me too," Jack chimed in, "Madi's house is in a whole 'nother city."

"Wait," Sydnei said, "Madi, do you know if your family was home? Because I'm not going there if…" she trailed off, waiting for my answer, knowing that I understood completely what she meant.

I sat in silence for a while, fidgeting with my fingers before I spoke up.

"They weren't there. Unless they had changed their minds," I said silently, looking down at my lap.

"Then Madi's house it is, we should start packing now, the sooner we get out of her the better," McKenna said, getting up and heading towards the room she had been sleeping in for the past couple of months.

Everyone followed her lead and began packing up what little they had. I found my old duffel and threw in my couple pairs of clothes and such and went back out in the living room.

After 10 minutes I got impatient.

"Hey, guys, I'm going outside to wait for y'all. This place is suddenly way too stuffy for my tastes," I yelled loud enough that I knew they'd hear. I heard a few replies and went outdoors.

It felt like forever since I'd last seen the world. Come to think of it, I haven't been outside since the day it all happened. I guess I've been too scared to come out here, it's not like we have any idea what's really out here, except for what's along the walk to the supermarket down the street.

I started humming The Avengers theme and turned to check on everyone inside. Before I could open the door someone jumped me from behind and hit me in the head. I screamed before I lost consciousness, just glimpsing the face of my attacker. It had sparkling green eyes, much like the grass on a spring afternoon.


End file.
